Hello Moto Xiaomi. Welcome the world’s third largest smartphone maker. A once small startup, now Xiaomi employs 5,000 people in mainland China, Singapore and Malaysia. They began operations in 2010, sold their first phone in 2011, and in 2014, three short years later, they sold over 60 million phones.

Our entire world has gone mobile. I teach a class at Sask Poly Technic in Regina and every year for the past three years I’ve polled the class as to how many people have smart phones. Every year usually only one person doesn’t have a smart phone (but ironically enough they are always quit to whip out their flip phone circa 2003). No wonder this young startup in China has grown exponentially over the past half decade. They’re making something that (almost) everyone in the developed and undeveloped world use every day; a smart phone.

The plot twist of this story is that Xiaomi has no plans of coming into North America any time soon. At one time a hot bed for the latest and greatest technology is now on a list of countries tech giants may or my not enter. The times are sure changing. A sign that North America may, in fact, not be the centre of the Universe, these growing third world countries are maturing into global business powerhouses. If North America doesn’t pick up it’s digital socks and start developing the worlds bleeding edge technology, it won’t be only the third most popular phone that’ll be coming out of China but everything else we use in our daily lives.

Want to buy the greatest present ever for the tech-lover in your family? Welcome the OM/ONE, the worlds first levitating speaker. All the kids around the water cooler will be talking about your one-of-a-kind levitating speaker. Yes, you read correctly – this speaker levitates, floats, hovers, flies around in one place and will become the center piece at your next party.

Are you ready for a sound grenade? This bad boy will transform any boring room into an experience equal to a front seat at the Regina Symphony Orchestra. You don’t have to compromise sound when you use a Bluetooth speaker, the levitating wonder packs a sound punch when it comes to filling up a room with your favourite Nickelback album.

Check out the video below. The guy that came up with it is like the god of sound.

Here at the KSP Technology office, we are always looking for cool technology. Expected date of awesomeness: March/Apr 2015!

Oculus Rift is a new virtual reality company pushing the boundaries of what is capable with 3D and virtual reality. It’s a head mounted display that provides a large field of view. 110 degrees of view to be exact. This means that when playing a video game you no longer look at a screen but are encapsulated by the game. This has the potential to change the way we administer virtual reality training in flight simulators for pilots, situation simulators for the army, medical procedures for doctors, and training simulators for many service based industries.

The possibilities are endless.

Industries that Oculus will be creating a Rift in:

Healthcare: doctors can perform surgery virtually to practice and to do surgery in remote areas where doctors can’t traditionally get to.

Gaming: this is the obvious one. Imagine Mario Cart in a virtual reality simulator!?

Agriculture: teach kids how to plant seeds, tend to the garden, take care of plants and learn everything there’s is to know about agriculture in a virtual world.

Aviation: it’s now cost effective to help future pilots learn to fly and re-educate current pilots on new features of new airliners. (Those that know Kevin know that he will be first in line at the Regina Flying Club!)

Geography: what if you could explore remote locations of our planet from the comfort of your home?

The workplace: how about having a board meeting with everyone in attendance? You could be in your lounge pants on your couch at home participating in the biggest meeting of the year, while still caring for your sick kid.

Education: instead of going on a field trip every day (because wouldn’t that be awesome?) you can now have the class join you to discover Iceland while physically never leaving the classroom.

The possibilities are endless. What industry do YOU think Oculus Rift is going to change? How could Oculus Rift change the way you do things in your company?